Early Morning Bliss

It’s the middle of May and all the eyes of the tennis freaks in the world are turned to Paris, France. The biggest clay court tournament has started. Predictions have been made, fantasy brackets have filled, suicide pools have been picked, and drinking game rules have been written.

As for me, I’m going to try something different. I’m just going to take things day by day and enjoy the matches. I’m going to soak in the atmosphere (as much as I can from my living room) and try not to live and die by each point. Sure I have my favorites and I want them to do well, but I’m not going to stress over it. Being a tennis fan means that I should be happy at some point by watching, right? Good, so I’m going to do that.

I couldn’t tell you how excited I was getting up this morning, brewing a cup of coffee, and turning on The Tennis Channel. It was 2:00 A.M. and the quiet darkness of my neighborhood just seemed to fit the bustle and noise of the crowd from the television. I tweeted and commented with some online tennis fans and I had a ball. And around 4:45, I had to stop and say, “This is what it’s all about.” It’s not all about predictions, and statistics, and fashion commentary (all that is fun), but it’s really about the sound of the ball thwapping through the air on the first point, the red dust kicking up in the wind, and the shouts of the linesmen calling a ball out.

Ah! Bliss. I think this is going to be a great fortnight of tennis no matter who wins the weekend after next.

nuff said..

Some are celebrating the 14th.  Today, I’m remembering the 4. The 4 times Rafael Nadal hoisted the Roland Garros trophy aloft.  As with all things, the consecutive championships ended. However, I have no doubt that Rafa will be holding that big silver cup again next year, and the year after next.

0-3

0-3, that’s the Grand Slam final record for the number #1 ranked player in the world. Once again, when it all mattered, when all the chips were in, when the stars were all aligned, she couldn’t close the deal. And yet, the rest of us were accused by her of hating when in actuality, we were very aware of Dinara Safina’s amazing ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Well there’s Wimbledon in a few weeks and then the U.S Open in August. That means two more chances to prove us wrong–or two more chances to earn some more runner’s up plates.

Enough about her..

Congrats to Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia for winning her first French Open title. For two weeks she played gutsy tennis with no fuss, no muss, and she was finally rewarded for all of her hard work.  Amazing, Kuznetsova has never been ranked #1 and yet she has two major titles. 

*Dapz*

Bagels and Breadsticks

It’s French Open Time! And it’s time for me to make so observations (NOT predictions. I suck at them)

The Men:

-As much as he might not like to admit it, Rafael Nadal is coming into this year’s French Open with more pressure than he has ever faced before. He’s the top seed for the first time ever and he has a chance to make even more clay court history by winning a 5th consecutive title. So far he’s handled the pre-tournament hype with a lot of grace. I don’t forsee the complete demolition he exhibited last year, but I think he will make it to the finals. Will he win? Ha! Do you even need to ask? The key is to get Nadal in the early rounds. He’s has some potentially tough matches with David Ferrer and/or Fernando Verdasco. His semi-final opponent could be Andy Murray from Great Britain. However, if he passes through those guys without spending too much time on the court, the title will be his once again.

-Roger Federer’s draw looks pretty straightforward until he reaches the semifinals where he could meet Novak Djokovic. Unless Federer plays the way he did during the Madrid final last week, Djokovic is a big favorite to win that match. Should Federer make his 4th straight final at Roland Garros, what will his mindset be? Does he still think his 14th Grand Slam title could be won on the French Clay? Will he be up for the fight or will he accept the inevitable? Let’s face it, Nadal has owned Federer on the center court on championship Sunday and after facing each other 20 times, I doubt Federer has anything new to show Nadal.

-Someone who could show Nadal a thing or two is the fourth seed and in my opinion, the second best player on clay this season-Novak Djokovic. Instead of being discouraged by his heartbreaking loss to Nadal in Madrid, I think he will in fact be emboldened to prove himself at Roland Garros. He has a really good chance to make it to the final if he isn’t too tired or gets to frustrated. Looking into my crystal ball I’m seeing a Djokovic Nadal faceoff two Sundays from now.

-Where does that leave Andy Murray? I say a decent showing until the semifinals. He’s improved somewhat on clay but there are still too many guys out there who can outmaneuver him on clay. The chatter about his prowess has dampened a bit but that’s due to his own so so results as of late. If he wants to be part of the conversation again, he’ll have to step it up. This means he will have to step up the aggression and not be too passive to even stand a chance of making it.

As for the other men, I don’t really see any dark horses or surprises. The top men have been so consistent, I expect the draw to play out according to seeding. I will be interested to see how the French players perform on their home soil. I’ll also be looking out for the American men. Will Andy Roddick do any damage? He was the only player to take a set off of Federer at the Madrid tournament so who knows?

The Women:

The field is wide open and the title is up for grabs. The Paper Number One, Dinara Safina has a chance to silence the critics by finally winning a major title. Ana Ivanovic is trying to make a comeback from injury and so is Maria Sharapova but I don’t see either one of them making it past the second week. Venus and Serena are now ranked number 2 and number 3 which means they will be on  opposite sides of the draw. Does that mean we’ll see an all Williams final in Paris? No. Serena is still nursing a knee injury and Venus has gone all “Miss Inconsistent” on me.

Jelena Jankovic is much ado about nothing. The other Russian players are all a big smelly pot of MEH so I’m going to focus my attention on Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. I think she’s going to go pretty far IF she has completely healed from her shoulder injury. If she hasn’t and loses early, I’ll deny everything that I’ve just written.

Sorry, I just can’t get too worked up about the women right now. Ask me if I feel any different once Wimbledon starts and Kim Clijsters returns.